Early Indo-European Texts

Old Irish

Patrizia de Bernardo Stempel, Caren Esser, and Jonathan Slocum

This page contains a text in Old Irish with a modern English translation.
This particular text and its translation are extracted from a lesson in the
Early Indo-European Online
series, where one may find detailed information about this text
(see the Table of Contents page for Old Irish Online in
EIEOL),
and general information about the Old Irish language and its speakers' culture.

Translation

"Well, o Cathal," said Mac Con Glinne, "a vision has been shown to me
and I have heard you are good yourself at passing judgement on a vision."
"To my God's doom," said Cathal, "even if I would pass judgement upon the
vision of [all] the men of the earth, I would not myself pass judgement
on your vision." "I swear," said Mac Con Glinne, "even if you should not
pass judgement, she (i.e. the vision) should be told in your presence."
Then he began his vision. It is so then he told [it], and two morsels or
three past Cathal's mouth into his own lips.

"A vision I saw last night,
My going on a journey, two or three [of us],
And I saw a house, white and very full,
In which was an abundance of food.

And I saw a lake of milk
In the middle of a white field,
And I saw a house of diligent activity
Under its thatch of butter.

When I came into its perimeter
To observe its structure:
Sausages upon their recent boiling,
It was them indeed its thatch-rods.

Its two soft door-posts of custard,
Its platform of curds and of butter,
The beds of splendid lard,
The many shutters of pliant pressed cheese. ..."